"We"ll just have to stay," announced Baldy.
Ruth cried a little, and even Alice felt a bit gloomy as the shadows settled down when the watch fires died out. But then their father was with them, and he did not seem at all despondent, so their spirits rose.
"This experience will be something to talk about afterward," Mr. DeVere told them.
During the night, when all seemed quiet, Baldy made another attempt, hoping he and his friends could get away, by leaving their horses behind. But the guards were on the alert.
The night was not a comfortable one, and no one slept much; but the huts and blankets were a protection. The Indians did not come near their prisoners, and in the morning they furnished them food.
Baldy tried again to argue with Jumping Horse and some of the others, but it was useless. To all the cowboy"s arguments, and even threats, the reply was that if the prisoners left before the ceremonies were over all the medicine and magic would be spoiled.
"We"ll have to stay, then," sighed Mr. DeVere. "But it will be out of the question to remain a week--and you say that it will take that long?"
"Yes," answered Baldy.
"Help may come from the ranch before then," suggested Russ.
"It will if I can do what I have in mind," declared Baldy, as he watched a column of smoke ascending from the fire he had made to cook food for his friends. "I"ve just thought of something. I can send up a smoke signal. If Bow Backus at the ranch sees it he will know it means we"re here, and in trouble."
"How can you make a smoke signal?" asked Alice.
"Well, you use wet wood, to make a black smoke, and then you hold a blanket over the fire a moment. When you take it away up goes a single puff of smoke. Then you swing the blanket over the fire again, and cut off the smoke. In that way you can make a number of separate puffs.
"Bow and I have a signal code. If I can only get him to see this we"ll be all right."
"It"s worth trying," said Paul.
That day the Indians went at their ceremonies harder than ever. They were in a perfect frenzy, but the vigilance of the guards never relaxed.
There was no chance to escape.
Russ, having nothing better to do, got many fine moving pictures through the hole in the hut, and later the films made a great hit in New York.
It was the first time these peculiar rites had ever been shown on the screen. In fact, few white men had witnessed them.
Baldy was waiting for a chance to send up his smoke signal, but it was not until afternoon that he got it. Then, most of the Indians having gone off to a distant part of the _mesa_, for some new ceremony, Baldy made a thick smudge and he and Paul, holding a blanket over it, sent up a number of "puff b.a.l.l.s." Russ took pictures of the signalling.
"There! If Bow only sees that he"ll come runnin"!" Baldy cried.
But the smoke signal was the cause of considerable trouble to our friends. Hardly had Paul and Baldy finished sending the message, which they could only hope was seen and read at Rocky Ranch, than some of the Indians came back. They had noted what had been done, and they were very angry.
With furious gestures they rushed on the prisoners and for a moment it looked as though there would be trouble. Baldy and Paul stood steadily, revolvers in hand. But there was no need to use them. Jumping Horse rushed up, and drove back his men. Then he said something angrily to Baldy.
"What is it?" asked Mr. DeVere.
"He says we shall be punished for making the smoke," was the answer. "I don"t know whether they think it"s a signal or not; but it seems to have been contrary to some of their ceremonies. We"ll have to sit tight and watch."
Muttering angrily, Jumping Horse went back to join the other Indians, and they seemed to hold a conference regarding the prisoners. Nothing was done immediately, however, in the way of punishment, and a little later the ceremonies went on.
It was growing dusk, and the howling and yelling of the Indians punctuated their caperings about a blood-red post in the center of the sandy circle. Then, suddenly, there was a fusillade of pistol shots from the direction of the trail, and at the same time the unmistakable shouts of cowboys.
"They"re here!" yelled Baldy, jumping to his feet and firing his own revolver in the air. "To the rescue, boys! Here we be!"
CHAPTER XVIII
A RUSH OF STEERS
Russ came bounding from his hut, carrying with him the moving picture camera, its three legs trailing behind him.
"Come on, girls!" he cried, as he saw Ruth and Alice peering from their shelter. "It"s all right!"
"Oh, what does it mean?" asked Ruth. "Where"s daddy?"
"Here I am," answered Mr. DeVere.
"It"s all right!" yelled Baldy, capering about, and vainly clicking his revolvers, for he had fired all the cartridges in the cylinders. "It"s the boys from Rocky Ranch! They saw my signal and came to the rescue!"
"That you, Baldy?" shouted a voice out of the cloud of powder smoke that hid, for a moment, the cowboys from view.
"That"s who it is, Bow!" was the answer. "Could you read my smoke?"
"I sure could, and we come a-runnin". Are the girls safe?"
"Everybody"s safe. But look out for yourself, these Indians are sort of riled at us."
From the group of Indians who had left their ceremonies, to rush toward the huts of their erstwhile captives at the sound of the shots and cheers, came deep-voiced mutterings. They were gathered in a group around their chief, Jumping Horse.
"Look out for "em!" yelled Baldy.
"Don"t worry," advised Pete Batso. "They haven"t any weapons."
"Just my luck," groaned Russ, setting up his camera.
"What"s the matter?" asked Alice, who now felt no alarm.
"Too dark to get a picture, and I had a little bit of film left on a reel. I might have got a dandy rescue scene; but now it"s all up. Too bad!"
"Never mind, you got some good ones," Ruth comforted him.
"Yes, but that would have completed the picture--"Captured By the Indians." However, it can"t be helped. Maybe after all this excitement is over we can get the Indians to pose for us. I"ll tell Mr. Pertell about it."
The rescuing cowboys had drawn rein in front of the lined-up Indians, near the huts of the captives. There was a goodly squad of cow punchers, and they seemed delighted to have been of some service to the picture players. Some of them were reloading their big revolvers, for they, like Baldy, in the excess of their spirits, had fired off every chamber. But no one had been hurt, for they merely shot in the air.
"Well, you got here, boys, I see," remarked Baldy.
"That"s what we did!" cried Necktie Harry, who was flecking some dust off the end of his gaudy scarf.